“
You should have told me. I
would have been there for you. We would have gotten
married.”
“
Blake, I told you I wasn’t
going to tie you down. I wanted you to marry me because you loved
me, not because we were dumb teenagers, and I got knocked
up.”
Blake hated the way she phrased that.
Glaring at her he snapped, “We weren’t dumb
teenagers, and I wanted to marry you. I’d only waited because your
dad asked me to. If I hadn’t respected your father’s wishes, I
would have proposed a long time before then.”
Putting his hands on the ground, he pushed
himself off the floor and started to head towards the door.
Startled by his reaction, Veronica jolted upright too.
“
Blake, where are you
going? Talk to me,” she pleaded. “I don’t understand.”
Having his hand on the door, Blake refused
to look at her. He bowed his head, and spoke in a calmer voice.
“After I graduated from high school, I went to your father to ask
his permission to marry you. I had it all figured out. Either we
could get engaged and take the next two years while you were in
high school and plan a nice big wedding or we could get married
that summer, and you could transfer to the school in Webster City.
That’s why I was looking for an apartment close to the campus, so
if you said yes and wanted to get married before that fall, we
would’ve had somewhere to stay. Your dad said he knew you too well,
and he understood we loved each other. He figured your choice would
be to get married as soon as possible. Because of that, he asked me
to wait to propose. He told me it wasn’t a ‘no’ for his blessing.
He wanted to give you time to finish growing up, before I whisked
you away to be my wife. I understood. I had the chance to finish
high school and still be a teenager. Why shouldn’t you? So, I
waited. I thought the ring would make a nice graduation gift. Then
you started talking about colleges out of state, and we started
fighting. As your graduation neared, things got worse between us. I
started to second guess if you really wanted to be with me. I
wasn’t sure if living in this town was good enough for you. So I
kept putting off asking you, and then we had that big fight.
Somewhere in the midst of everything, I lost sight of the ring—I
lost sight of us getting married.”
Shaking his head, Blake jerked the front
door open.
“
I need to step out to
clear my head.”
Blake didn’t hear what Veronica said when he
shut the door. He wasn’t sure if he cared to hear. Without speaking
to Deputy Curtis, he headed off his property. Making a left, he
wasn’t sure where he was going, but he knew if he kept in that
direction, he would be on Main Street. Blake was so wrapped up in
thought, that he didn’t notice he was being followed. As he walked,
he mulled over everything Veronica said. He thought about
everything they shared.
Fellow Surpatchiens gave him warm greetings
as he marched through town. He nodded in acknowledgement, but kept
his head low. He knew it was no way to act as the mayor, yet at
that moment, he didn’t want to be mayor. No, all he wanted was to
just be Blake. Heartbroken, love lost, Blake. Checking his watch,
he saw that it was still early. However, it was Sunday and his
parents, Parker and Hayley were probably just settling down to have
brunch. In the past few years, he’d skipped brunch, but he thought
it might be a good thing to have company. Turning off of Main
Street, Blake made his way to the Mayor’s mansion. It really wasn’t
a mansion, but it was one of the biggest houses in Surpatch. Coming
up to the huge brick house, he didn’t bother to knock. His parents
always left the door open for him, Parker and Hayley. Entering the
house, he heard his family in the kitchen. He wasn’t sure if they
heard him come in, but as he moved closer, his mother stepped into
the doorway.
“
Hey, son. Is everything
all right with Veronica?”
He guessed his father had probably told her
about the fire, and about him being there with Veronica. “She’s as
good as can be.”
He didn’t want to sound so nonchalant about
the matter, yet he wasn’t sure what else he could say. He was just
grateful that until now the family hadn’t tried to call to check on
them. Carol gave him a warm smile before she walked back into the
kitchen and finished serving the food. Following her, Blake walked
into a familiar sight. Sitting at the head of the breakfast table
was his father. Parker and Hayley sat across from each other and
his mother was just taking her seat at the foot of the table. There
was always two other chairs set at the table. As teenagers,
sometimes on the weekends, Veronica would join them for Sunday
brunch. When she started to attend their family meals, his parents
decided they should add the two extra chairs. The Darwoods knew one
day, their family would grow and each of their sons would have a
girlfriend or wife seated there too. Pulling out the chair between
Hayley and his father, Blake dropped down into the seat. A plate of
food was set in front of him, which he could only stare at it. He
wasn’t hungry. Nonetheless, it would only raise questions if he
didn’t attempt to eat.
A few minutes of uncomfortable silence went
by before Parker began to talk. Catching on to what he was doing,
Hayley joined in. Blake had a hard time keeping up with the
conversation and began to push his eggs and bacon around the
waffles on his plate. Interrupting Hayley and Parker’s
conversation, Richard’s voice sounded amused but also stern,
drawing Blake from his brunch montage.
“
Blake, do you plan on
eating that or are you just trying to see how many different ways
you can rearrange everything on your plate?”
Blake glanced away from his bacon and egg
mess, and dropped his fork.
Sensing there was something wrong, his
mother spoke, “Blake, what is it? You said everything was fine with
Veronica. Is there something else wrong?”
He wasn’t sure when he came over if he was
going to share the story Veronica divulged, but as he dropped his
chin towards his chest, he began to speak.
“
Veronica was
pregnant.”
As he spoke, he closed his eyes. He felt the
tears run down his face. Everything in the room went quiet. The
forks scraping the plates stopped, and he heard his mother
gasp.
“
Is she okay? The baby
wasn’t harmed during the fall, was it?”
Blake raised his head, confused by his
mother’s question. Then he realized he needed to explain what he
meant.
“
No, she wasn’t pregnant
when she took the fall. She was pregnant that summer before she
went away for college. That’s what she was going to tell me the day
I broke up with her. I always thought she was going to dump me, but
she wasn’t, she-”
His voice broke and he began to sob harder.
Carol moved from her chair to his side, and wrapped her arms around
him.
“
Mom, I never knew. She
never said a word.”
His father, who had remained in his seat,
huffed before speaking, “I always wondered if that was the
case.”
Blake wiped his eyes, and stared at his
father.
“
What do you
mean?”
Lifting his hand to his chin, Richard rubbed
the smooth skin as he thought.
“
I saw her father. It was
months after they packed up to go stay closer to Veronica. I
stopped to see how he was doing and see if everything was okay.
But, the look he gave me without speaking, before turning his back
to walk away, always made me wonder what really happened between
the two of you. I knew how things were between the both of you, and
that was the first thought to cross my mind.”
Giving his father a stunned look, he
immediately threw an ominous glare at Parker. Parker flung his
hands in the air surrendering, “I never said a word! I swear.”
Blake doubted he could have trusted his
brother. He and Veronica had always tried to be discreet when they
were together, but one time while he was home on break from school,
Parker walked in on them. Veronica, being the more diplomatic
one—and knowing Parker treasured the ground she walked on—talked to
him. He, of course, promised her he would keep it to himself, but
now Blake second guessed it.
Richard clicked his tongue and brought the
room back to him.
“
Blake, if Parker did know,
he never said a word to us. You kind of told on yourself. You
seemed to always have trouble getting dressed.”
Laughing out loud, Richard slapped his hand
on his knee.
“
We could always tell
whenever you got dressed in a hurry. You would either forget to
button something or buttoned it wrong. There was one time your
shirt was on backwards.”
Richard seemed to be the
only one who found that funny. Clearing his throat, he picked his
fork back up and continued to eat. Blake was stunned.
They knew?
Why hadn’t
they said anything?
He was just about to
ask them why when he realized that they just expected him to do the
right thing. And he would’ve, if Veronica had told him. Shaking, he
felt his mother brush the top of his head with her hand.
“
Blake, did she tell you
what happened with the baby?”
“
Yes, she said during the
pregnancy she became sick and passed it on to the baby. The baby
only lived a few days before she died.”
The room went quiet again. Parker’s face had
become as white as the table cloth, and Hayley was fighting hard
not to cry. Richard stopped eating again. Since Carol was behind
him, Blake couldn’t see her reaction. Rubbing his hands together,
he dropped his eyes to the floor.
“
She told me everything.
From the time we broke up, the death of the baby, her finding her
parents murdered in their bed, and the fight she and Stentson had
that led up to now.”
“
Where is she now,
Blake?”
His mother’s voice was quiet, and he
wondered if she, too, was about to cry.
“
She’s back at the house. I
needed time to think.”
“
You didn’t leave her there
alone, did you? That poor thing, I can only imagine what could be
running through her head right now, after all of this.”
“
Not exactly, Miller has
round the clock surveillance on the house.”
Getting up from the table, Parker walked
over to the window overlooking the front of the house.
“
Is there more than one
deputy on surveillance? Otherwise, I think Veronica is back at your
place alone. I thought it was kind of funny when I saw you walking
up the street with Curtis following you.”
“
What?” Blake
barked.
He jumped to his feet and rushed over to the
window to look out as well. Swearing under his breath, he marched
to the front door and yanked it open.
“
Curtis, what the hell are
you doing here? You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on the house
and Veronica.”
Startled by Blake’s fury, Curtis took a step
back.
“
Sir, Mayor Darwood. I, uh,
Miller told me to keep an eye on you. You’re the priority, sir.
Sorry, I’m only following orders.”
Cursing again, a little
louder, Blake started to walk out the house.
How could I have left her?
His mother
was right. Veronica shouldn’t have been alone. Not now, not after
everything she told him, not with that lunatic still out on the
prowl. He hadn’t made it to the edge of the yard before he heard
his father call him.
“
Son. If you like, your
mother and I will drive you. She’s just putting together a plate
for Veronica.”
Blake didn’t want to wait.
Every second that ticked by left Veronica vulnerable. Changing
direction, Blake walked over and waited for his father to unlock
the car doors. His mother joined them shortly after with a heaping
plate of food. As they pulled out the driveway, Blake watched as
Parker and Hayley headed in the opposite direction towards their
house. Parker wrapped his arm tightly around his wife, and she
rested her head on his shoulder. Blake’s attention shifted to
Deputy Curtis as he climbed back into his patrol car.
How did I miss a slow driving police car
following me?
At the house, Blake jogged
from the car and pushed opened the door, calling for Veronica.
Hearing no response, Blake hoped she was asleep or taking a shower.
He moved swiftly up the stairs, and called her name over and over
again. The house was empty. Blake could feel that sick feeling he
was trying to keep down slowly rising in his throat.
Where is she?
Coming back
downstairs, he found his parents looking extremely worried. Curtis
had finally joined them in the house. Blake headed straight for the
officer. He stopped within inches of the younger man’s
face.
“
It’s your job if something
has happened to her,” he yelled. “Get Miller over here
now.”
Curtis’ eyes grew large, but he didn’t say a
word in response. Turning his back, he walked back out the house
and radioed out for Miller.
It didn’t take Miller long once the call
went out for him to get to Blake’s house. Arthur had not been seen
anywhere in Surpatch. Miller put everything he owned on the fact
that Arthur had nothing to do with why Veronica wasn’t at the
house. He and Blake argued about what was more important, looking
for her or keeping an eye out for Arthur. Miller was worried about
Veronica too, but he stood his ground on his security detail. Blake
hated it. Every second that passed, he thought of all the horrible
things that could be happening to Veronica at any given minute.
Just as Blake was going to insist again for someone to go looking
for her, Curtis radioed that he spotted her walking up the street
towards the house. A few minutes later, the front door opened and
Veronica walked in. Blake, who was sandwiched in between his
parents on the sofa, wanted nothing more than to jump up and pull
her into his arms.